Arjel

“I don’t want to be known as someone who looks a lot like Empress Schuck or Valerie Concepcion.”

“I’m a psychology graduate but I don’t work as a psychologist or guidance counselor. I work as the overall student activities coordinator for the School of Information Technology. Most of the time, troubled students come to me for advice. That gives me some sort of fulfillment. I get comfort from the fact that I have guided them in some way. Some of them who have already graduated leave me messages, inviting me to hang out. And that touches me deeply because it means they don’t forget me.”

“I was raised in a very conservative home. My mom and I fought a lot when I was in my teenage years. We were in a fight so often that it got me thinking I was the only one with that kind of upbringing. Until one time, I told her I wished I had a different mother. She was shocked, and I regretted saying that – I still do now. Today, things are better between us. I juggle my work and my responsibility at home. Being the eldest, I am sort of responsible for my two younger siblings. I manage everything at home; my parents are in the province.”

“People see me as this happy, bubbly girl. But I’m also very emotional. When people say something profoundly hurting, I cry, like, really sob. But then it makes me feel and look awful, so I go back to being happy. It’s easier to keep up and I don’t want to look awful; I want to stay beautiful. [Laughs]”

“I have always fantasized that I am a teleporter, you know, jumping from one place to another. It’s like vanishing in New York and appearing an instant later in Madrid. Pretty cool, right?”